As John received revelation upon revelation sitting exiled upon the Isle of Patmos he issued a very strong warning to us in our day. He told us that our entire world would be deceived (lied to) through the sorceries that would come out of Babylon. (Rev. 18:23-24) He went on to say that the end result of this deception would be the demise of Prophets, Saints and many good men. In other words no one would be spared in this great deception by these sorceries. Remember that we were told that even the very elect would be deceived.

So what is this sorcery of which John warns?

The Greek translation of sorcery is “Pharmakia” which means “medicine from a pharmacy.” WHAT?! Does that mean the drugs we find in those pharmacies on nearly every street corner now? Is it talking about those same drugs with ads that run all day long on our TVs and in magazines that we see everywhere we look?! Is it any wonder then that these prescription drugs are now being reported as the biggest drug problem in America today? Is it any wonder that the whole world has been deceived about these drugs?

According to a 1995 study done by concerned pharmacists, prescription drugs, taken “as prescribed” rather than abused, are the third leading cause of death in this country, killing as many Americans every week as we lost at 9/11. The death toll of another 9/11 every week in this country! In light of this we need to ask who the real terrorists are when we are in a war over one week’s worth of these deaths while all the others go unnoticed, slaughtered and buried right under our noses. Is it any wonder the scriptures speak so sternly of sorcerers and sorcery?

January 17 this year we read in the New England Journal of Medicine that almost half of the studies done on one of America’s most popular group of drugs, antidepressants, were negative, yet when any of those negative studies were reported to the public the results were presented as positive. They also said the studies indicated that there was little evidence these drugs which bring in nearly $200 Million per day were more effective than placebo in treating depression.

Deception?

Deadly deception!

How deadly?

The most popular of these antidepressants, Effexor, now has “homicidal ideation” listed as a side effect. Homicidal ideation is not just killing someone, but it is having constant ruminating thoughts of killing and how to kill. To see the results of just this one deception with antidepressants go to www.ssristories.com where you will find a very long list of school shootings, loving mothers and fathers who have killed their children, children who have killed their parents, suicides, murder/suicides, female school teachers who have seduced male students, even well respected ministers who have raped children, previously “straight” individuals who have become “gay” – even to the point of having sex change surgery, extreme out of character behavior, including violence, wild spending sprees, embezzlement, sexual promiscuity, exhibitionism, gambling, etc. – all side effects of antidepressants.

Then a week later the FDA announced that they have been investigating many various types of medications for the potential of causing suicide. After learning that antidepressants increase suicidal potential by 2-3 times suddenly the FDA officials realized that multiple classes of medicines might cause dangerous psychiatric problems including suicide. Medicines to treat acne, hypertension, high cholesterol, swelling, heartburn, pain, bacterial infections and insomnia can all cause psychiatric problems, effects that were discovered in most cases after the drugs were approved and used in millions of patients.

Now, how could these medications produce such things? Simple. Antidepressants create a sleep disorder in which the patient acts out nightmares. It is called a REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD) and 86% of those being diagnosed with the disorder are taking antidepressants.

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As people begin to see how they have been lied to about the safety and effectiveness of these drugs and attempt to come off the drugs, what will the end result be? Knowing what I know about these drugs and the withdrawal from these drugs I can tell you that I for one DO NOT want to witness what we will see! If there has ever been a situation in the history of this world where we have so desperately needed to adhere to the command to be our “brother’s keeper” this is it! In doing so even if you are not the one taking the drug, the life you save may be your own or that of a loved one. Why? Because when someone goes psychotic in the withdrawal they can do anything. (For information on safe withdrawal go to www.drugawareness.org)

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But why is this happening to us? Where did we go wrong?

For the answer we need to turn to Isaiah and read Isaiah 28:8 where, he, speaking of our day, says that we will rise up each day to get drunk (but he had already made it clear that this drunkenness would not be from wine or strong drink).

What would produce that drunken state then? Well when do people generally take their medications? First thing in the morning? These are mind altering medications. And what do the package inserts list as side effects? That is right – all the same effects one could expect from alcohol, but much stronger.

Isaiah then goes on to tell us why people would suffer the feelings of needing drugs. He says that our tables are “full of vomit” and there is nothing clean there.

Well, what is vomit? Vomit is food that either has already had the nutrients extracted or food that cannot be used by the body and is expelled because of that. And unclean? Look at the chemicals that have saturated our food supply.

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One extremely critical point for all Christians to understand is the serotonin connection to spirituality. These drugs work by increasing levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin. But 50% of the serotonin is metabolized by the pineal gland.

What is the pineal gland? It is the master gland of the body known as the “seat of the soul” or our connection to higher, spiritual thoughts. In Eastern religions it is known as the Third Eye and is located right in the center of the brain.

The question we need to ask is that if the Pineal gland is overloaded with large amounts of serotonin produced by these drugs, does it interfere with that spiritual connection?

According to patients using these drugs it does. They continually report that they can no longer feel God. One perfect example that comes to mind is that of Elizabeth Bush, the 14 year old girl who shot her best friend at the private Catholic school they attended.

Elizabeth’s hero in life was Mother Theresa. Elizabeth planned to devote her life to God and become a nun. So how did she go from that point to a charge of attempted murder almost overnight?

I called her attorney when this happened and told him what happened was likely the result of the use of one of these antidepressants. He did not show much interest, but said he would check. Then the following week Elizabeth was interviewed on 20/20 where she made the statement that she could “no longer feel God anymore.”

Immediately I called her attorney back and told him I no longer had any question about whether or not his client had been on an antidepressant nor any question about its contribution to causing this tragedy. With that new evidence about her inability to feel God anymore, in my mind, I knew.

He asked me to hold for a minute and when he returned he said rustling papers, “Paxil. Is Paxil one of those drugs?”

So, as dangerous and life-threatening as these drugs can be, even worse is the possibility that we can be severed from the spiritual by these drugs. Not only can they produce physical death, but also spiritual death.

Where did we go wrong?

Clearly we have underestimated Satan and his potential to pull us into his web of deceit and debauchery. Just because he is evil, does not mean he is stupid. He has much knowledge, far more than we do. Not more power than we do, because we do have the strength to overcome all with the help of the Savior. But we must be constantly aware of his cunning craftiness when it comes to his power to deceive. This awful situation in which we now find ourselves is a call for humility and faith and a reminder to always turn to the Savior in ALL things rather than trusting in the arm of flesh.